Central Americans are willing to risk all in pursuit of what almost no other country can offer.

A young Honduran man was worried, and you could see it on his face: Clutching his 1-year-old son, he looked back apprehensively toward the barrier he just crossed. He was on United States soil and he knew that he did not have authorization to be there.

It was the middle of the night on November 29, at the U.S.-Mexico border. The man, holding his toddler close, decided to take a chance, looking for a different, better life than the one he had back in Honduras or in a bleak, overcrowded shelter in Tijuana. He knew he would likely be arrested, but it was worth the risk if it meant he could apply for asylum in the U.S.

U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led fighters captured the last town held by the Islamic State group on Friday, after days of intense battles in the militants’ single remaining enclave in eastern Syria, activists said. Yet the force also warned that threats by Turkey’s president to launch a new military operation against it would negatively impact its fight against ISIS.

From the Editor

Since I was born on the seventh of December, and the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor forever made this same day back in 1941 “a day of infamy,” my mother nicknamed me her “Pearl Harbor baby.” This caused me to take special interest in this historic occurrence. Its 75th anniversary is an opportune time to reflect on lessons from this event as they apply to mankind as a whole.

France mobilized tens of thousands of police officers and made plans to shut down beloved tourist attractions like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre on the eve of anti-government protests that authorities feared could be even more violent than ones that have crippled the country for weeks.

Before the Brexit vote on June 23, 2016, United States President Barack Obama offered his thoughts on whether the United Kingdom should leave the European Union. Soon after a slim majority of Britons voted to leave the power bloc, then-candidate Donald Trump stated his view.

In the United States, people who feel overwhelmed by the 24/7 news cycle significantly outnumber those who are comfortable with it. According to a 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center, nearly “seven-in-ten Americans (68%) feel worn out by the amount of news there is these days, compared with only three-in-ten who say they like the amount of news they get.”

Scientists for the first time have used CRISPR gene editing to halt the progression of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in a large mammal, according to a study by UT Southwestern that provides a strong indication that a lifesaving treatment may be in the pipeline.

Air pollution shortens human lives by more than a year, according to a new study from a team of environmental engineers and public health researchers. On the other hand, better air quality could lead to a significant extension of lifespans around the world.

Today, the number of countries involved in “violent conflicts” is the highest in 30 years, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on July 17, 2018. He also stated that the number of people killed in conflicts has risen tenfold since 2005 and that the number of “violent situations” classifiable as wars, based on the number of casualties, has tripled since 2007.